SH 578 
.B5 N5 
Copy 1 



Tropical Trolling 

Two Tales of Trouble 

h 
Arthur SOohn Newberry 



Copyrighted 1911 by 
Arthur StJohn Newberry 



PRESENTED TO 



BY THE WRITER 



ONE HUNDRED COPIES OF THIS 
PAMPHLET HAVE BEEN PRINTED. 
THIS COPY IS NUMBEP- 



At. 



' 



Tropical Trolling 

Two Tales of Trouble 

by 
Arthur Stjohn Newberry 




Printed for the Writer by 

The ]. B. Savage Compart]) 

Cleveland, Ohio, 1911 



To My Wife 

A Very Present Help 

in Trouble 



€7 

V 



©CLA2937^S 






ON LINES 

The line required for trolling with the rod, for the great game 
fishes of the tropical seas, must be a marvel of strength, lightness and 
endurance. The strain of taking a tuna or tarpon of a hundred and 
fifty pounds, even from a small and handy power boat, which can 
follow the fish and ease the tackle with the engine, is enormous. That 
put upon the line in taking a fifty-pound kingfish or amber jack, from a 
large sail boat, which cannot follow the fish and requires the whole 
work to be done with rod and reel, is probably equally great. In either 
case two or three hundred yards must be wound on a reel of reason- 
able size, and salt water soon attacks the fibre and causes it to rot, 
so that its life cannot be very long. A high class linen line should 
have a breaking stress of at least two pounds per thread, and maintain 
this strength for some weeks. 

The spin of the bait in trolling has a tendency to untwist all cable 
laid lines and cause them to kink. One so untwisted and kinked 
must have weak spots, and be liable to break at much less than the 
strain that one, properly twisted and unkinked, will easily endure. 
For such fishing a line must have the minimum tendency to unravel 
and kink to do good service ; it should also be dark in color, as a 
light colored line, in the wonderfully clear waters of the tropics, is 
too noticeable, and will according to my experience obtain much 
fewer strikes than one that is green or brown. I am satisfied also 
that the coloring matter lessens the tendency to untwist and kink and, 
to a considerable degree, protects from the rotting effect of salt water 
and so prolongs the life of the line. 

The catalogues recommend that one should "set" his lines before 
use. This process consists in taking one off the spool, winding it 
on a stick in kite string fashion, so that it can be readily soaked, 
thoroughly soaking it, stretching it on a frame, permitting it to dry 
thoroughly, and then winding it upon the reel. Now the time and 
trouble required to so prepare two hundred yards of line is very 
great. I have found that to "set" three such lines required a night's 
soaking, followed by at least a whole morning's troublesome and 
annoying labor, as the stretching, drying, and reeling up can only 
be done by day and in direct sunlight. A slight shower, or the damp 



TROPICAL TROLLING. 



night air, will undo most of your work, which must then be done 
over again. Now I, at least, want to fish in my mornings and not to 
prepare tackle, and it seems to me manifest that all such preparatory 
work should be done by the maker or dealer, and that the fisherman 
should be able to buy a line completely ready for use. For such 
no reasonable sportsman would hesitate to pay an extra price, which 
would reimburse the maker for the extra labor and pay him a good 
profit besides. 

The books also say that all lines used for salt water fishing 
should be taken from the reel each night, thoroughly washed in fresh 
water, allowed to dry completely, and then be replaced. Has any one 
of these writers tried it and found out how much labor this operation 
requires, how the lines will snarl, and how much time, which should 
be devoted to fishing, one must expend on this soul-destroying occupa- 
tion? Let him attempt what he so cheerfully recommends to others, 
and he will know more and talk less. Of course rich men can hire 
others to do the setting, washing, drying and replacing, though it 
will be done less well than the fisherman would do it himself, but my 
experience has shown the whole process to be unnecessary, provided 
honestly made lines are furnished for one's money. 

Six years ago I spent a month cruising among the Florida Keys, 
fishing near the reef for the great kingfish, amber jack, barracuda 
and groupers. Five years ago I spent nearly five months of the 
winter and early spring in Nassau, fished about eight hours a day, 
from a thirty-five foot sail boat, and took kingfish up to fifty-five 
pounds and amberjack up to fifty-two. I then could buy green or 
brown linen cable laid tarpon lines of two hundred yards each, of 
twenty-one or twenty-four threads, put them on my reels without any 
"setting," never wash or dry them, and find them give excellent 
service for about thirty days, with little tendency to untwist or kink. 
After that time it proved wise to replace them by new ones and this 
became my regular practice. In these two winters, at Nassau and 
in Florida, my line broke only once, and this was when I had 
neglected to exchange it for a new one after thirty days service, and 
perhaps was rather careless also. 1 used but a single large swivel, 
and never found keel sinkers, or any similar device, necessary to 
prevent untwisting or kinking. 

I had hoped to return to Nassau the following year and break 
my own record on kingfish, and for that purpose then bought four of 
"Hall's Special Tarpon" lines, but illness and the panic of 1907 pre- 




AMBERJACK — 35 Pounds. 



TROPICAL TROLLING. 



it for two days more, reversing it each day, when it broke at the strike 
of a moderate sized fish. The second "unset" "Rex" broke about 
two hours after I put it on the reel. The other four "Rex" I 
"set" and found these give very varying results. One of them 
broke the first day I used it, the others lasted several days each, 
although it was necessary to reverse them every day, and in less than 
two weeks all of the six "Rex" lines were unfit for service. 

The first "Gulf Tarpon Line," used "unset," encouraged me very 
much, giving good service for the first day. The next day I took off a 
"Rex," from one of my other reels and put a new "Gulf Tarpon" on 
it. This broke at the first strike I had. I then took off the 
"unset" lines and substituted "set" "Gulf Tarpon" lines. These gave 
better service than the "unset," but still untwisted, unraveled, kinked 
and broke. I reversed them every day and managed to catch some 
fish with them, but never could trust them. 

Of the new lot of "Halls," received only a few days before leav- 
ing Nassau, I went through the process of "setting" one, and found 
that the soaking removed a very large part of the coloring matter. 
After careful setting and drying I used this line for two days with 
great caution, reversed it every night, and on the third day it broke 
at the strike of a moderate sized fish. I did not dare to use any of the 
other "Hall" lines, brought them back home with me, and returned 
them to the seller. 

The best lines I had during the winter were two green tarpon 
lines, bearing the name "E. Vom Hofe," costing considerably less than 
any of the others, but even these were very far from good, enormously 
inferior to those of five years ago, unraveled and kinked badly, and 
broke frequently. Toward the end of my stay I always cut off the 
lower ten or twelve feet, after one day's use, always doubled the lower 
ten feet before using, watched very carefully for weak spots and, 
when one showed, cut it out and knotted the line, used keel sinkers 
and three large swivels, and yet continually got wretched service. 

The big kingfish were very late in arriving this year, perhaps 
because the season was unusually cold, and all fish seemed very scarce, 
so up to April thirteenth, when I left Nassau, I had only hooked eight 
large ones. One was lost by the excitement of my skipper, one tore 
the hook out of its mouth, and six broke my lines short off, in spite of 
the very greatest care I could use. 

During the whole winter I caught only one kingfish over twelve 
pounds, and this was three days before leaving. He was forty-eight 






TWO TALES OF TROUBLE. 



inches long, weighed thirty pounds, and was hooked in the middle of 
the belly. Of course he made a most furious fight, repeatedly ran 
out nearly the whole two hundred yards, got under the boat, and was 
only kept from cutting off the line on the keel by plunging my rod 
straight down into the water. It took at least forty-five minutes to 
kill him. Every moment of this time I felt that the line was liable 
to fail me, and the fish was only landed by the greatest care. 

I can only explain this disastrous and infuriating experience by 
supposing that manufacturers have been led, by competition or greed for 
greater profit, to use inferior material and labor, so that such abuses 
have arisen as, in another field of trade, the "Pure Food and Drugs 
Act" has done so much to remedy. The abominable notion, that the 
markets of the world are for the benefit of the producer and seller 
only, and that the consumer and buyer have no rights at all, which 
has done such grave harm in other industries, seems to have extended 
its baleful influence over the tackle trade also. Of course such an 
idea leads directly to fraud of all kinds, to the extortions of monopoly, 
the follies of the tariff, and countless kindred evils. These can be 
overcome only by informing and directing that Public Opinion, which 
is the court of last resort in this country, and the only method of 
successfully doing this is by Publicity, by throwing light into the 
dark places. 

That thoroughly reliable lines can be made and sold, at a reason- 
able price, is conclusively shown by my experience of five years ago, 
and a dealer or maker who will furnish such trustworthy lines can 
have from me any reasonable price he asks. I want good lines, regard- 
less of cost, and appeal to all my fellow sportsmen to help me find 
them, if they can be now had, and, if not, to join me in a crusade that 
will produce them. Let us all condemn, in print and giving full names 
of lines, maker and dealer, such tackle as we have found bad, and, 
in the same way praise such as we have found good. I am sure that 
the columns of all our papers devoted to sport will be open to us for 
this worthy purpose. 

I have not written this article, nor do I propose the above sug- 
gested course to my brother fishermen, for the purpose of wreaking 
vengeance on any one, but want to use, and have other fishermen use, 
the great weapon of "publicity" for the protection of fishermen, honest 
dealers, and honest manufacturers, against dishonest manufacturers, 
who cheapen their product by using inferior material and labor, and 
dishonest dealers, who sell something they know to be inferior. Of 



10 TROPICAL TROLLING. 



course, the dealer may be also deceived, so a time limit might be 
allowed before dealers are denounced by name. 

I have dealt with Messrs. Abercrombie & Fitch for many years, 
and have found them most courteous and accommodating, and never 
until this winter have I got bad material from them. I wrote them 
fully, stating my experience. They expressed great regret and 
volunteered to take back all goods purchased from them, which proved 
unsatisfactory, and refund the full price, but this does not cover the 
case. If I buy a line for three dollars, and hook and lose a record 
fish through its failure, a refund of three dollars or a payment of 
three hundred dollars, or any money sum whatever, would not satisfy 
me. What fishermen want, especially those who are exercising their 
craft in distant regions, where no supplies can be had and communi- 
cations are slow and uncertain, is tackle that can be depended upon 
and not a claim for damages. 

I also wrote to the Simmons Hardware Company, of St. Louis, 
reporting the unsatisfactory results obtained with the goods bearing 
their name, but have not yet received even the courtesy of a reply. 

I had other experience with unsatisfactory tackle and other trials 
on this trip, which really made it memorable for misfortune, and these 
I shall describe in a future article, but the present one is devoted to 
the subject of lines only. 

The following seem to me established as conclusions : 

1. The lines now made and sold for tropical trolling are enorm- 
ously inferior to those obtained five years ago. 

2. All linen lines should be sold "set" and ready to put on the 
reel, and fishermen should refuse to buy any others. 

3. All linen lines, for salt water trolling in the tropics, should 
be dark colored, never white or natural color. 

4. The cable laid linen line is, and must always be, unsuitable 
for trolling, on account of its tendency to untwist and kink. 

A braided linen line, if of the best quality and made with the great- 
est care, might give much better service. Whether a braided line can be 
made of the same strength as a cable laid line, without much, if any, 
increase of size, I have no means of knowing and should like to be 
informed. If so I am ready and anxious to buy a lot of them. 

Next year I shall again avoid the northern winter by going back 
to the tropics, and to where good fishing can be found, and do not 




KINGFISH— 30 Pounds. 




MY HOUSE AND GARDEN. 



TIPO TALES OF TROUBLE. 11 



want to waste the coming winter as the last one was wasted, so I 
appeal to my fellow sportsmen, and to all dealers in and makers of 
angling goods who have learned that a pleased customer is the best 
advertisement, to help me to find trustworthy tackle, and to aid their 
fishing friends, known and unknown, to avoid such an infuriating 
experience as that I have just passed through. 

Cleveland, Ohio, June 27th, 1911. 



TROUBLE IN THE TROPICS 

The winter of 1905-6 I spent in Nassau and found there a 
most picturesque island, a perfect climate, much natural and artificial 
beauty, much pleasant company and particularly good fishing', 
and the latter was described in the columns of Fofcst and Stream 
shortly after my return. My time was devoted chiefly to trolling 
for the great tropical game fish, kingfish, amber jack, barracuda, 
and others, using tarpon tackle and a thirty-five foot, two-masted, 
pilot boat named the "Kestrel." The winds were regular, so 
that the boat almost always traveled at sufficient speed, and calms or 
very high winds were infrequent. The sea was free from gulf weed, 
which when present in any quantity is a terrible nuisance. Bait 
could be readily procured and fish were plentiful. My lines, rods 
and reels also gave excellent service. I had a spacious and con- 
venient house on a ridge overlooking the harbor, a garden full of 
grapefruit, oranges, cocoanut palms and roses, and altogether, both 
for comfort, convenience and sport, found it the most delightful place 
imaginable. When tired of trolling, one could anchor and catch plenty 
of the beautiful, strange and brilliantly colored fish of the tropics, 
so that the bottom of the boat after fishing looked like a flower garden. 

Nassau seemed to me an ideal place to pass the winter, and I 
vowed never again to see a flake of snow if it could be helped, but 
rather serious illness prevented my returning the following year. 
Then came on the panic of 1907, with the depression succeed- 
ing, when every business man had to devote all his time and energy 
to strictly necessary business. But at last such troubles settled 
themselves, health was largely restored, and I expected that 
one more winter in the tropics would make me absolutely well. I was 
fortunate enough to be able to again engage the house, boat and crew 
of my former year, and early in January started off with the happiest 
of anticipations. 

We sailed into the harbor on a perfect, brilliant morning, over 
the turquoise, opal and sapphire water and, among the crowd swarm- 
ing to meet the steamer, was my old Captain, John Darrow, who 
welcomed me with a most gratifying heartiness. We found the 



14 TROPICAL TROLLING. 



house completely ready for us and, through the great kindness of its 
owner, equipped with servants and supplies, so that we could settle 
down at once. It had been improved by the addition of mosquito 
screens, being the only house in Nassau so equipped, and a telephone 
and electric light, since our former visit. The trees in the garden 
were laden with grapefruit and oranges, the roses and hibiscus were 
in full bloom, and we at once felt completely at home again. 

But this delightful beginning was succeeded by a series of vexa- 
tions and annoyances so far unmatched in my experience. Nassau has 
an infertile soil and very little productive industry, so that wages are 
excessively low and it is often impossible for a laborer to get work at 
all. In the past five years these conditions have produced their 
inevitable result. Many of the best and most energetic of the popula- 
tion, both white and black, had emigrated to the United States, 
those engaged in any class of business were fewer and the most 
enterprising of them had already gone. The fishermen supplying 
the market were fewer than formerly, and perhaps they were less 
diligent and efficient also, the result being that the "goggle-eye," which 
small fish is generally used for bait, was scarcely and irregularly 
supplied, and it was often impossible to get them on days 
when everything else was favorable. After many annoying experi- 
ences of this kind I met this difficulty by arranging to get a supply of 
bait, whenever possible, and have it kept on ice, and such cold storage 
baits, while they were not quite so good as fresh ones, seemed to 
answer reasonably well. 

When this difficulty was disposed of and I was able to go out 
regularly, fish proved to be much less plentiful than they had formerly 
been. Whether this was due to a rather unusually cold winter or to 
some other reason I cannot tell. The temperature never fell to much 
below seventy, even during the night, but tropical fish are extremely 
sensitive to cold and even a slight drop in temperature will drive 
them away or prevent their biting. I had been accustomed to find 
good sport just outside the mouth of the harbor and all along the 
shore for twenty miles or more, but this year there seemed to be no 
fish anywhere near the harbor's mouth and grounds, which had been 
most prolific in the former season, yielded nothing whatever to the 
most painstaking effort. 

The winds, on which we depended entirely for propelling power, 
and which had been so steady five years ago, were also very variable 
and uncertain. On many days we were unable to fish because the 




AMBERJACK— 43 Pounds. 



TWO TALES OF TROUBLE. 15 

wind was too high and very frequently, after getting outside with a 
good breeze, it would drop away to little or nothing and our boat 
would float around in a calm, helpless and useless so far as fishing was 
concerned. When other troubles were not present, when I had bait, 
when the wind blew and when the fish seemed in biting humor, the 
yellow gulf weed would come down from the north, cover the sea 
with great masses of floating herbage, and one would pass most of his 
time in reeling up his long line, disentangling weed, and putting out 
again. Of course, a bait with a weed on it will not be touched by any 
self-respecting fish and to haul in and let out again a hundred yards of 
line takes a considerable amount of time, so that much of my fishing 
days would be wasted in this way. 

All these difficulties arose from the caprices of Nature, and 
had to be endured, but unfortunately I also suffered from troubles 
which were the result of the carelessness, if not the dishonesty, of man. 
My tackle was selected with the greatest care, guided by the experi- 
ence of past tropical fishing, and was supposed to be of the very best, 
but proved in many respects untrustworthy. The worst offenders 
in this respect were my lines, which broke, snarled, tangled, kinked, 
and committed every other sort of crime in a manner which was 
entirely beyond my experience. As I have elsewhere described this 
particular trouble, my grievances in this respect will not be repeated 
here, but this was far from the only defect in my outfit. Finding that 
my two large reels were not sufficient I ordered a new tarpon reel, 
fitted with a "rabbeth drag" and costing thirty dollars, from Aber- 
crombie & Fitch, of New York .When this reel arrived it had no 
safety catch or pawl, to engage with the teeth on the central screw, 
which holds the drag upon the reel. The result of this was that, the 
instant a fish struck and began to whirl the friction disc, this central 
nut would loosen itself and, unless I kept constantly tightening it up 
with a screw driver or my fingers, would almost certainly come off 
and take the whole reel handle with it. It was inexcusable to send this 
reel with this old style friction plate, without a pawl on it, when the 
new style, with a pawl, are kept regularly in stock, but I wrote at 
once for a new style plate and tried to use the reel meanwhile. On 
the second day, while playing a good fish, the click broke short off, the 
broken part jammed the reel so that it could not be used and my fish 
was promptly lost. On investigation I found a very marked flaw in 
the click. The reel being now useless, had to be packed up and sent 
off north to be mended. It must be borne in mind that Nassau is 



16 TROPICAL TROLLING. 



about a thousand miles from New York, that all merchandise is sent 
by parcels post, and that steamers carrying parcels post packages 
leave New York only once in two weeks or so. Therefore, it must 
take more than a month to get this reel north, repaired and back to 
me, and I was in fact deprived of its use for nearly six weeks. 

As a substitute for bait I had bought a number of the 
"Sam" spoons of large size, a spoon being serviceable and effect- 
ive whenever the wind is reasonably strong and the motion of the 
boat rapid, and being in some ways preferable to bait, because it 
is not cut by the teeth of a fish striking and consequently does not 
have to be hauled in and renewed. The "Sam" was more lively 
and active in the water than any spoon I have ever seen, but developed 
three very grave faults. First ; they tarnished so badly that, after a 
few hours' use, one had to scrub them with specially made scouring 
cloths for fifteen or twenty minutes in order to get them decently 
bright. Second ; they were fitted with the "Van Vleck" hook, 
which has an incurved point. Whether on account of this or 
some other reason they did not fasten fish well, and I got a large num- 
ber of strikes on these spoons without hooking the fish. Third ; the 
ring of the hook, which fastened into a strong loop of metal on the 
spoon, proved altogether too weak. The hooks wore away very 
rapidly and, on at least two occasions, very heavy fish were lost through 
the breaking of hooks at this point. 

Becoming disgusted with the unsatisfactory results of trolling, 
bottom fishing was tried. Fish seemed to be unusually scarce and, 
what I had never known before, sharks were unusually plenty. Going 
out for a day, after taking two or three fish one wasl likely to 
have his hooks bitten off by a shark, and could not escape these 
miserable brutes, either because they followed when ground was 
changed or because they were so numerous that there was always a 
new one handy. Bottom fishing, therefore, was in every way a failure 
and not worth the trouble it cost. 

On one particular day I invited three ladies to go out with my 
wife and myself, expecting to fish for a while and then sail up to 
the end of the island, land, eat our luncheon there, and have a pleasant 
sail back. The wind became so light that it took at least two hours 
to get to the fishing ground. Finally we got our lines down and took 
one or two porgies, when the usual shark arrived. I was using my 
tarpon rod and a twenty-four thread line with comparatively small 
hooks. After bitinar off one or two of other baits, the shark came to 



TWO TALES OF TROUBLE. 17 

me, was hooked, played a while, straightened out my small hooks and 
departed. I then put on a steel wire leader with larger hooks, prompt- 
ly hooked him again, and played him for some fifteen minutes, once 
bringing him up into view and seeing that he was about ten feet 
long. After having pretty thoroughly tired me out he bit my wire 
leader off and left. We then shifted our ground a half mile, but 
either this shark or another one promptly turned up and repeated the 
process. We gave up fishing as useless and tried to eat luncheon, 
but the boat wobbled round in the hot sun and uneasy swell, most 
uncomfortably, and all of my guests grew seasick. Finally I had to 
put the crew in our small boat, rig a tow line, and be ignominiously 
hauled about two miles into the harbor. 

As may be readily seen, with the combination of all these diffi- 
culties, fishing for the first two months of my stay was generally 
unproductive. Going there with the especial purpose of beating my 
own record for kingfish, fifty-five pounds, in that time I caught very 
few kingfish at all and none over twelve pounds. During the last 
month the fish were more numerous and I did hook in all eight heavy 
kingfish. One of these escaped through the excitement of Captain 
John, who devoted himself to telling me how to fish instead of to 
managing his boat, one tore the hook out of his mouth, and six were 
lost by the breaking of my lines. 

It should be said here that the play of the kingfish, especially one 
of any considerable size, is unmistakable. He strikes with a ferocious 
rush which may take a hundred yards or more off the reel, then he 
will become somewhat quiescent and can be reeled back part way 
toward the boat. Then comes another rush, and such rushes and 
periods of comparative inactivity succeed each other until he is brought 
near the side. When the fish first sees the boat there is invariably a 
tremendous rush. The fisherman must guard against this, by keep- 
ing his rod up and his line free, or something is practically sure to 
break. During the whole winter I took only one kingfish exceeding 
twelve pounds in weight, and this was a spotted kingfish, S. regal is, 
forty-eight inches long and weighing thirty pounds. In some strange 
way he was hooked just in front of the amal fin, naturally made a most 
tremendous fight, and was only gaffed after more than a half hour's 
play. His picture appears herewith. 

Of course in so many days of effort I had to catch some king- 
fish, and one of the pictures accompanying this article shows the stern 
of the "Kestrel," with my crew holding up four that ran from seven 



18 TROPICAL TROLLING. 



to ten pounds each. At the left of the picture appears my rod, with 
the handle of the friction-clutch reel made fast by a loop of the jib- 
sheet, the rod being stayed out overside by my tackle box. When 
busy with other matters I used to rig out the rod in this way. If a 
fish struck the motion of the boat would hook him, the click would 
sound an alarm, and one could slip the rod from its fastening and play 
him as usual. On the rail around the cockpit, on the left side, appears 
a little device of my own, consisting of a large wire nail holding a 
spool against which the rod is rested. This relieves the left arm 
from the strain of trolling and is extremely useful, as that arm does 
practically all the work in playing a fish and should be kept unfatigued 
for that purpose. At the right of the cockpit are two extra rods, one 
of which has a new bait ready for use, should the other bait be struck 
and cut, and the second one is fitted with a large spoon, to be used in 
case the wind rises enough to give sufficient speed to make the spoon 
effective. 

Big amber jack, most powerful of fishes, were not uncommon, 
and we took a number of these up to forty-three pounds, but the 
large amber jack, though a tremendously quick and powerful fish, is 
worthless after you catch him, being tough in flesh and also very 
likely to be poisonous, producing the very serious disease called 
"ciguatera." I have a theory that a really game fish must be shy and 
difficult to attract, powerful and active when hooked, beautiful to look 
at, and good to eat after you get him, and therefore that the amber jack 
and tarpon, which are tremendously strong and active but worthless or 
dangerous as food, do not strictly come within this category. As I 
have never caught a tarpon it may, however, seem presumptuous for me 
to express this view. 

It was interesting to see how seriously the crew of the "Kestrel" 
took our bad fortune. These men had never seen any trolling with 
the rod until my first winter with them, and were at first extremely 
doubtful of the ability of the small lines to hold big fish. After 
some successes they became extremely contemptuous of those who 
trolled with big, white, hand lines, and certainly took as much or more 
satisfaction in every big fish brought in than I did myself. One of 
them would always take any especially large and fine capture on his 
head, and walk with it up the main streets of the town, where the most 
people were, being as proud of the attention he attracted as any child 
with a new suit of soldier clothes. Our persistent bad luck depressed 
them in equally great degree and they would almost weep when one 



TWO TALES OF TROUBLE. 19 

disaster followed another. They were most excellent men, gave me 
the very best service that was in them, were capital sailors, and oblig- 
ing, diligent and efficient to a very high degree. Of course, like all the 
West Indian negroes, they are to a certain extent like children and 
have to be treated as such, but are most appreciative of kindness and 
responsive to it. The life of these poor fellows is a pretty hard one. 
My captain, who is an unusually good man, told me that during the 
previous summer he went through four months without being able 
to obtain any work at all. One of my crew, who lived at Governor's 
Harbor, on one of the outer islands, from which nearly all the best 
negroes in Nassau come, had strained his back in unloading a 
vessel, his wife had been ill, two of his children had died, and I 
really do not see how the poor fellow had lived. When he came to me 
the signs of starvation were deeply marked on his face. My contract 
did not cover the feeding of my men but, on going out for all day, 
I always took lunch enough for them and for myself and, instead of 
carrying water, took a number of partly green cocoanuts, the liquid 
inside of which is always cool and refreshing. When a nut was 
emptied, poor Sweeten would say, "Will you please hand it here, 
Chief?" and make up some of his arrears of food from the creamy 
flesh inside. When I bade him goodbye he was fat and shiny, but I 
fear the future has some hard times for him and for them all. 

One day we were down by North Key when it began to grow 
very black on the northern horizon. I got in the lines and started 
for the harbor, but had just crossed the bar when a tremendous squall 
struck us. We had no ground tackle but a rather light grapnel, which 
was sufficient for all ordinary purposes, but far from big enough to 
hold the boat against a very high wind. We got under a slight lee by 
the lighthouse point and anchored, but promptly began to drag. Then 
the crew hoisted the foresail double reefed, hauled in the grapnel, 
and tried to beat up the harbor, but with this small canvas the boat 
would not come about, so we had to anchor again just in front of 
the Colonial Hotel. The wind continued to increase until the waves in 
that sheltered harbor were running six feet high and two boats, which 
had been anchored near by, broke their moorings and went on the 
rocks a quarter of a mile west of us. Then the "Kestrel" began to 
drag her anchor, pulling it through the sand for a while, then bringing 
up when the fluke caught a point of rock. It seemed pretty certain 
that we would pile up on the rocks, where the other boats had gone, 
and, though there was no danger to us except that of a complete wet- 



20 TROPICAL TROLLING. 

ting - , the boat would certainly be destroyed. I got down into the fore- 
hold and pulled the hatch shut, where, though very wet, it was quite 
comfortable out of the sweep of the wind, and there lay for an hour 
or more. Presently there was a shout and, putting my head 
out of the hatch I found a row boat, half full of water and manned 
by a couple of darkies. My crew had called to the shore and 
these men had put off, well up the harbor, come down with the 
run of the sea and wind and got alongside. We bailed out the 
boat as well as possible, I climbed into its stern, and we started off 
before the wind and sea toward the flat rocks on shore. There a 
dozen or so of friendly negroes waded into the water up to their 
waists, grabbed the boat, hauled her up on the flat rocks and I stepped 
out. Of course my first thought was for my crew, who were out in 
the boat, with no food, not much clothing and thoroughly wet, and 
without waiting to shift my drenched clothes I got word to the white 
owner of the boat to send them an anchor, with food and drink also at 
my expense. This imitation of a man came down to the harbor, looked 
out at his boat, concluded there was no hope of saving her,' and did 
nothing whatever. My crew stayed on that boat without food and 
thoroughly chilled until three o'clock in the morning, when the gale 
moderated, they were able to land, and after getting dry clothes and 
a cup of coffee came over to tell me the story. Being pretty thorough- 
ly indignant, I started out to find that man and tell him my opinion 
of him but, perhaps fortunately, could not then find him and my 
anger had time to cool down before I saw him again. 

The bothers during this winter were not by any means confined 
to fishing. Photography has always been a pet occupation of mine, 
and during the last year I had taken up photographic portraiture and 
become greatly interested in it. My trunk contained a large kodak 
with an especially fine lens, a number of rolls of film, and a new metal 
tripod bought for use on this particular trip, the wooden ones not 
being trusted. This tripod broke a leg short off the first day it was 
used. None can be got in Nassau, nor could it be repaired there, and 
over a month passed before it could be replaced by a new one from 
the north. Within the first ten days the shutter of my camera began 
to act badly and soon broke down entirely. So shutter and lens had 
to be taken off, sent north to be repaired, and were not returned to 
me for nearly six weeks. No films of the size necessary can be pur- 
chased in Nassau, and orders sent to the north seemed to meet with 




THE LITTLE DOLPHIN. 



TWO TALES OF TROUBLE. 21 

very slow attention, so that much of the time this indispensable 
requisite was also deficient. My photography was, therefore, almost- 
as bad a failure as my fishing. 

Having had experience with the ways of black servants, my wife 
took a maid down with her, who was to relieve her from the trouble 
of issuance of supplies, supervision of purchases and many other house- 
hold duties. She was particularly faithful and conscientious and we 
were all very fond of her. After having been in Nassau a few 
weeks she took to her bed with fever and weakness, which the 
doctor decided was due to tuberculosis. Instead of being of any 
assistance to my wife, the latter was obliged to nurse the girl con- 
tinuously for over three weeks, until I grew very anxious for the 
effect on her own health. Fortunately, by the help of a resident 
physician, we were able to get passage for her on a comfortable 
steamer going north, under the care of a nurse who was traveling 
by the same vessel. All this we felt of course morally bound and even 
glad to do, but naturally we got no service from her and were put 
to heavy expense on her account. 

So hard luck pursued me and mine throughout the whole winter, 
everything seeming to go wrong when there was the slightest oppor- 
tunity to do so. Such continued worries and annoyances cause a nerve 
strain that cannot be beneficial to one's health, and the result was 
that I came home again far less well than when I went. So my 
winter in Nassau failed to fulfill my hopes in fishing, photography, or 
health. This bad fortune continued until the very end, finishing with 
a railway wreck as we came west from New York. 

It is very probable that, on going to Nassau another year, one 
would find none of the natural annoyances which I have described ; but 
I intend to devote myself, and ask fishermen in general to join me 
in this, to preventing the recurrence of such troubles as come from 
defective tackle, by using the weapon of publicity. From now on I 
shall try to publish the names of everybody who sells me defective 
material, and also of those who sell me good and satisfactory stuff, 
and, if other fishermen will do the same, joining in a crusade for the 
protection of fishermen, honest dealers and honest manufacturers, 
against unscrupulous dealers and rascally manufacturers, who make 
and sell tackle that they know to be bad, such troubles cannot often 
recur. 

Having given so long an account of my bad luck, let me now 
describe one of the few bright spots that lighted up the prevailing gloom. 



22 TROPICAL TROLLING. 



The dolphin, "coryphena" is a widely roaming fish, which may 
occasionally turn up in any part of the ocean, but is seldom found in 
any particular place. I had never hooked or caught one, nor seen a 
living one, although a friend once took at Nassau three small ones 
which he showed to me. The fish is very strangely shaped, the head 
being very large and the whole body thinning away toward the tail. 
The back fin runs nearly the whole length and is very high, and the 
tail is deeply forked, narrow in the blades and very wide. In color 
the fish is indescribably beautiful. The great back fin is greenish 
purple with bright blue spots ; the body varies from brilliant gold to 
old gold, profusely studded with large spots of the most brilliant 
blue, and the fins and tail are golden. These colors begin to fade as 
soon as the fish is dead and, within an hour, all brilliancy has dis- 
appeared and the fish shows only various shades of whitish, yellow- 
ish, brown and grey, the blue having practically all vanished. 

As April came on the wind became especially light and uncertain, 
so that a sail boat was practically useless for trolling, and I was some- 
times compelled to engage a motor boat to get any fishing at all. The 
first day this happened I invited a couple of guests to go with me. 
It was very rainy, dark and dismal, a most unusual thing, and we ran 
down nearly to the western point of the island without taking a single 
fish. On the way home, however, we ran into a school of small 
dolphin. One struck the hook, made a tremendous leap, at least six 
feet into the air and twenty feet long, and got away. Then one of 
my friends hooked another. Being entirely inexperienced in such 
fishing he was pretty nearly helpless, especially with such a ferociously 
active quarry on the end of his line. Seeing that he Was making heavy 
work of it I said, "Do you want me to take your rod?" and he 
answered, "I wish to the Lord you would." So we made the exchange 
and, after twenty minutes of most active play, rushing, leaping and 
general cavorting, the fish came to gaff. My camera was not on 
board and, by the time the fish had reahed the house, the sun was 
down, but I hurried to get the camera, hung up the fish and took 
half a dozen pictures, varying the exposure on account of the uncer- 
tainty of the light. One of these gave a satisfactory negative, which 
is reproduced in this article. This picture was taken about three 
hours after the fish left the water and the colors are very dull. This 
particular dolphin was thirty-seven inches long and weighed fourteen 
pounds. I did not know its edible qualities, but had this one cooked 




THE BIG DOLPHIN. 



23 TWO TALES OF TROUBLE. 

and tried him. He proved most excellent, the flesh being finely flav- 
ored, tender and containing dark layers of high flavor very like those 
of a shad. 

The last two days of my fishing I engaged another motor boat, 
somewhat smaller and a good deal handier than the first one. It had 
the grave objection that it was covered by a fixed roof, supported on 
stanchions, and this made it very difficult for the fisherman to handle 
his rod. Within half an hour after leaving the harbor something very 
heavy was hooked, which I hoped and prayed was my desired big 
kingfish, but which finally turned out to be a forty-three pound amber- 
jack, whose picture is also reproduced herewith. This fish made a 
most tremendous fight and, as my line was already badly weakened 
and I had no confidence in it, it was necessary to use very great care 
and spend a great deal of time in playing him. Nothing else touched 
my bait for a considerable time, so we ran down to the westward until 
opposite North Key, about five miles from the mouth of the harbor. 
Here there was a lot of floating gulf weed, and, for fear of fouling it, 
I began to reel in my line. When twenty-five or thirty yards were 
still out there was a swirl in the water and Captain John called, 
"There's a dolphin after it !" I ran out a few feet of line, let my bait 
go back, saw the fish whirl up, snatch it and turn away, and struck 
him as one would a trout. The instant response was a tremendous leap 
in the air and I saw that he was a big fellow. Then began a most 
furious fight. He would run out my line almost to the end, leap six 
feet from the water (and he was a magnificent sight with the bright 
tropical sun on his brilliant color) then turn sideways, opposing his 
great width so that I could not recover any line at all. Then he swam 
in circles, our handy boat following him in the opposite wlay, so that 
we waltzed together over the bosom of the deep, and every now and 
then he jumped. I found it almost impossible to handle him, from 
my seat under the edge of the roof, which constantly interfered with 
the use of my rod, so kept a pull on him as well as possible, and 
scrambled out on the little stern deck, I holding hard to the fish and 
Captain John holding hard to me to prevent my going overboard. 
There I dropped into a sitting posture and had considerably more 
freedom, but the rudder chains ran along the top of this little deck 
and I had to sit on them, giving attention both to handling my fish and 
to easing up so that the rudder could be worked under me. It took at 
least three-quarters of an hour to kill that dolphin, but finally he came 
up closer and closer and, at last, Captain John jerked the big steel 



TROPICAL TROLLING. 24 



gaff into him and lugged him aboard. On that day I had the camera 
along, so instantly dropped my rod, got the camera out of its 
case, adjusted focus and stop, scrambled up on top of the house, and 
had Captain John stand up at the extreme end of the after-deck 
and hold the fish in the air. The resultant photograph printed 
herewith proved most satisfactory, showing the contrast of color so 
far as black and white can do it. Such a picture can only be obtained 
by a remarkable combination of circumstances. The dolphin could not. 
possibly be handled in an ordinary sail boat, so one must be a skilled 
fisherman, with proper tackle, in a motor boat, in the tropics, on a 
sunny day, provided with a camera and knowing how to use it, a big 
dolphin must come along, take the bait, he fought and landed, and be 
photographed as soon as he stops kicking. That all these things should 
happen together is not likely to occur twice, even if a man fishes dili- 
gently for a considerable number of years. 

This particular dolphin was fifty-seven inches long, seventeen inches 
deep and weighed thirty-five pounds, which my captain says is about 
as large as they grow, but this may or may not be correct. His widely 
forked tail was one foot ten inches from tip to tip. I have never met 
the tarpon or the tuna, but in strength, agility, beauty and all other 
qualities that make up a game fish, the dolphin exceeds any that I 
know from experience. 



Cleveland, Ohio, June 27th, 1911. 



AUG 26 W1 



One copy del. to Cat. Div. 



AUG 26 W 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



002 897 403 6 




